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Babies Under 1 Year

Often overlooked, tongue- and lip-ties can be an underlying cause of feeding struggles that affect a child’s weight gain and lead many mothers to stop breastfeeding.

Sleeping Baby

What are signs/symptoms of a Tongue-tie or Lip-tie?

Infant May Exhibit

  • Clicking or loss of suction

  • popping on and off the breast

  • leaking during feeding

  • poor weight gain

  • coughing, gagging, choking

  • lip blishters, two toned lips

  • Reflux & Spitting up

  • Gas pain & constipation

  • Mouth-breathing at rest

  • Falls asleep during feeds

  • Lip curls during feeds

  • Frequent hiccups

tongue tie example
lip tie example

Mothers May Experience

  • Flattened, Creased, Blanched Nippies

  • Nipples Pain And Damage

  • Prolonged Or excessive feedings

  • poor breast drainage, mastitis

  • milk production issues

  • feels like a full time job to feed baby

What to Expect ON the DAY of the Frenectomy Procedure for Your Infant?

After your Initial Consultation visit and a Frenectomy procedure is recommended, this is what you can expect on the day of your child’s procedure.

At Your Visit

Our parents relax in our Pre-operative room with a comfy couch. Before the procedure, we will apply a topical numbing cream to the lip-tie, tongue-tie, and/or cheek-ties. This will numb the area within 5 minutes. Then we will swaddle your baby for comfort & safety and will be brought into our treatment room for the procedure. Parents are only away from their child for 10 – 15 minutes. 
During the procedure, our Doctor will use a CO2 laser, which is non-contact, minimally invasive, and a very precise laser to provide minimal bleeding and discomfort.

Immediate Post-Procedure

Your child will be brought back to you immediately after the procedure. Immediately, you are encouraged to nurse and/or bottle-feed to comfort your baby. Once your baby is full and fed, we will show you how care for your baby’s wound and how to perform the Post-Operative Stretches.

Follow Up

We will schedule follow-up appointments as needed to ensure that your child’s treatment is on the right track, and we will continue to provide guidance and support throughout the healing process.

Toddlers and Older Children Over 1 Year

Benefits of a tongue-tie release on a toddler/older child:

  • Eat with fewer struggles (decreased gagging/choking/taking a long time to eat)

  • Sleep peacefully (decrease grinding while asleep, promote nasal breathing, provide more quality sleep)

  • Speak with confidence (speak with more clarity and in turn, become more confident at school with friends/teachers)

Kids Blowing Bubbles

What to Expect ON the DAY of the Frenectomy Procedure for Your Child?

After your Initial Consultation visit and a Frenectomy procedure is recommended, this is what you can expect on the day of your child’s procedure.

At Your Visit

For toddlers and older children, we provide sedation options for their comfort – either Laughing Gas or General Anesthesia, depending on behavior.

Once your child is comfortable, our Doctor will additionally provide local anesthesia (numbing) to the tongue-tie site for your child’s comfort and then use the non-contact and precise CO2 laser for the release procedure. Resorbable sutures are then placed to ensure proper healing and prevent reattachment.

Immediate Post-Procedure

Immediately after the procedure, our team will then review with you the post-operative instructions – both for the frenectomy and for the sedation that was used.

Follow Up

We continue to support you and your child by providing 2 post-operative visits after the Frenectomy procedure to ensure that the post-operative exercises are correctly done at home. We also encourage your child to continue therapy with your Myofunctional Therapist or Feeding Therapist for functional success.

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